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How to make money with an affiliate program?

It’s 2018 and the world obviously knows about affiliate programs, it has become one of the familiar terms in marketing history. So, can you call this an opportunity or the best way to make money? It’s complicated and there are lot to know about an affiliate program much more than what you already known of. Let’s understand what an affiliate program is and how come it a reliable money source.

The world has changed and humans are no “troglodyte” anymore, people live in expensive houses, expensive life style etc. And the main reason for such lifestyle is a regular flow of money. For earning such a pile of money you need to stick with a business that promises complete life savings.

An affiliate program is usually carried out by an organization with various rules and regulations. Alongside with these rules there will be a marketing plan otherwise known as “affiliate Plan” (eg: Binary plan, matrix plan etc.) and with this plan the whole business will be running without any flaws. We shall take certain instances to understand the ways to earn money.

Amazon affiliate program

Amazon introduced an affiliate program back in 1998, during that period there weren’t similar sort of programs available in the market. Selling books was the only way to make money and it takes great time. Later on, they introduced new products in the range and made the program quick enough to make money. As per the program the working plan looks like,

You enter into the program, add up new customers and make them buy the product; you get your commissions directly into the bank (Of course, only if you meet the sales target). 4% commission earned for selling products, a count of 6 or less and 8.5% for 3,131 products. Yes, it’s comparatively low but, Amazon is so much popular that you don’t have to market for their credibility.

The plan is simple but the regulations keep pressuring an affiliate, they follow strict guidelines like no email marketing, no link mentioning or sharing etc. So is this affiliate program best for making money? I guess yes, but you need to be specific with the products selection that suits your marketing ideas. Potentially, you can perform multiple ways to improve the chances like,

Make the best out of the program using the above methods.

eBay Affiliate program

eBay affiliate program is different from that of Amazon by means of the commission structure itself. There is no definite amount of commission set-off in Ebay and it depends on the earning per click policy. As per eBay, there is a revenue share of like 50-75% is offered to the affiliate and as we said it’s not a definitive chart.

The joining part looks process out as, choosing the product range, share it to other customers, you get commissions once someone clicks on it and buy it with in a time frame. It’s a perfect day if you understand its norms and link sharing isn’t an issue here. A “qualifying transaction” is what eBay refers to the earning criteria, as mentioned before it works if someone clicks the link and buy within 24 hours or else some end users bid on the product with the link and wins it within 10 days.

You roll into EPN by filling up the necessary details and all set. So, with the above two scenarios you have got a rough idea about how affiliate programs let you earn. Talking about the earning part there are certainly pros and cons involved in it. We have made a brief comparison note on it.

Pros of an affiliate program

You earn a good amount of commissions.

Call the affiliate business as secondary while working on another job for better earnings.

Making a wide profile and expand the network.

In company point of view, a product expansion is gained through the program.

More and more leads through traffic.

A viral marketing strategy is offered etc.

Cons of an affiliate program

Chances of letting yourself in a trap are high.

Not every program is highly beneficial in nature.

Commission set-off might not be fair as you deserve.

You don’t own a program by yourself and is not controlled by you.

Customer base is not easy to set-up.

There is no guarantee on the program etc.

It’s all a part of the game and yes, not every deal is perfect. Dig deep and analyze before letting yourself into an affiliate program. Try to implement affiliate tracking software for best results and we recommend it.

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About the Author

Nikhil Ravindran

A young and talented writer who engages in the technical world and making readers aware about latest technologies.